


see no evil

by mnemememory



Series: breaking even [4]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, beau is shameless, extremely self indulgent, stupid cute, yasha is an awkward lovable mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 07:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15091934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mnemememory/pseuds/mnemememory
Summary: Beau is a squishy human who can't see in the dark.As luck has it, Yasha can.(or; beau is shameless, yasha is an awkward lovable mess, and nott is so done with these people)





	see no evil

“I…can’t see.”

The words burn acid in Beau’s mouth, and she swills them around for a few seconds before spitting them out. Thankfully, her indignity is contained (for the moment) to two people; had Molly been in her little group (as he had seemed so inclined to do, this morning), Beau wouldn’t have admitted to her blindness to save her life. Which it could.

There’s nothing but darkness in front of her – there _has_ been nothing but darkness in front of Beau for a good five minutes; she’s been stumbling along with a stubbed toe and curses stuffed down her throat. Both Yasha and Nott are there, somewhere, but she can’t see them. The scrape of feet on rock stop, and Beau can feel her lips curling up nastily.

“What about your goggles?” Nott says. The voice is coming from somewhere close to beau’s face, and she blinks a few times to try and re-orient herself. It doesn’t work. The darkness is too thick, too absolute for her human eyes to penetrate. Frustration builds hot in her muscles. “I distinctly remember you stealing night-vision goggles.”

Beau works her jaw. “You know that last fight we had? With the bandits?”

“Yeah, they totally kicked your ass. It was almost embarrassing, really, how fast you went down…”

Beau ignores her. “They kind of. Broke.”

“Broke?” Yasha says. It’s the first thing she’s said all morning, and something – some kind of tension – loosens in Beau’s chest.

Which doesn’t make what she has to say next _any easier_. “I might have, well. Fell on them”

“Fell on them,” Nott repeats.

“You know how it is!” Beau says. “They’re all, like, glass and shit. Delicate-like. I don’t know, I tried putting them on when we came in here, and I still can’t see for shit. I am open for any suggestions.”

“You should have gone with Caleb,” Nott says.

“Any _useful_ suggestions,” Beau says.

“We could go back?” Yasha says, slow and careful.

“No!” Beau says, and then backtracks as soon as the uncomfortable silence pierces her ears. In a more normal voice, she says, “I mean, no, that’s not necessary. This tunnel can’t go on forever. We’re not supposed to be finding whatever’s been killing those livestock for another good half-day’s journey. This is just to scout. So we should…scout. There’s no need to go back.”

“Scouting generally involves being able to see,” Nott says.

Beau glares at the general space where Nott’s head probably is.

“What if,” Yasha says, picking over her words with a fine-tooth comb. “You just, uh. Grabbed onto my arm.”

Beau’s pulse spikes, and she whips her head away from Nott’s vague direction to Yasha’s vague direction, tilting her head dup. “Your arm?”

“Well,” Yasha says. “I can, uh, see. Better than you, at the moment. and I can – can make sure you don’t. Run into anything.”

“Like a wall,” Beau says blandly. Her toe gives a painful throb.

“Or a ravenous attack creature,” Yasha says.

“This is all very lovely, but are we _sure_ we should keep going? No offense, Beauregard, but you’re not going to be of much help here.”

“I don’t think we can afford to lose the time,” Beau says. “We’re leaving tomorrow. This is our last chance to check out this place.”

“This is a bad idea,” Nott says.

Yasha doesn’t say anything.

Beau blows out a loud breath. “Alright, then. From how I see it, we’ve got three options. We all go back. I go back, and you keep going. I stay _here_ , and you keep going, and pick me up on your way out.”

“I like the first option,” Nott says.

“Yasha?” Beau says. Yasha hasn’t moved, but Beau can’t tell if she’s facing the right direction. It’s so _frustrating_ , just having to rely on her other senses. Her hearing is good, but Yasha either hasn’t moved on inch, or is too stealthy for Beau’s trained senses to find her. The uncertainty of it all is – a little exciting, if Beau is going to be honest. Though for sure it would be a lot less exciting if they get into active combat. Already, the novelty is beginning to wear thin.

“I don’t mind,” Yasha says.

“Your vote doesn’t count,” Nott says immediately. “You’ll just agree with whatever Beau says.”

“That still leaves us at a tie,” Beau points out.

“Which means, as team leader, I automatically win. Let’s go.”

Yasha sighs, close enough that Beau jumps. Something gentle brushes along Beau’s shoulder, and then a hand clamps with restrained strength down on her forearm. Beau uses the physical place-marker to thread her arm into Yasha’s elbow, reassured of her spatial context.

Up close, Yasha is a wall of heat. Beau takes advantage of the opportunity to press closer, feel the hard muscles flex under toughened skin. It’s hard to remind herself that even though it’s dark, even though she can’t see for shit, her companions have no such limitations. She smothers her wide grin in its infancy and pushes Yasha forward a little.

“Alright, then,” she says cheerfully, ignoring Nott’s groan. “Let’s go!”

…

…

Being led blind is a novel experience.

The lack of autonomy is stifling – Beau keeps putting her feet forward wrong. Matching steps with Yasha proves an exercise in failure; no matter how Yasha limits herself, Beau can’t quite sync up to the wider, smoother strides of her companion. More than once, she stumbles over a piece of rock or stray crack that just doesn’t register for Yasha, with the only thing keeping Beau upright is the steel anchorage of Yasha’s arm.

“Sorry,” Yasha says softly, the fifth time Beau is almost knocked to the ground. Nott is scouting twenty feet ahead, checking for traps and potential pitfalls. Well, bigger pitfalls.

“Don’t worry about it,” Beau says, and plasters herself closer to Yasha’s arm. This isn’t _all_ bad, after all. Being made essentially helpless is a little grating, but hey. At least she’s on Yasha’s team. And if Beau is hugging a little closer than strictly necessary – well. Yasha isn’t exactly _complaining_.

“You two make me sick,” Nott says, from _out of fucking nowhere_.

Beau lurches against Yasha’s arm, and Yasha actually has to reach out to steady her. Heart pounding double-time in beau’s chest, she looks around frantically. “ _What the hell_ ,” she hisses. She wants to lunge forward and grab onto that little goblin brat, but Yasha hasn’t let go of her shoulder.

“Save the flirting for later, please,” Nott says. “We’ve got _serious business_ to get on with. In case you forgot? Our reason for being here?”

Beau glares into the darkness. “Come within grabbing reach,” she says, jaw set. “Please, just come a little closer. I’ll show you _flirting_ –”

“Now, now, Beauregard,” Nott says. “I don’t know if Yasha’s into that kind of thing.”

“Why you little –”

Yasha is conspicuously silent, but she hasn’t let go of Beau. As Beau struggles to catch even the _slightest_ glimpse of Nott, c’mon, karma, there’s got to be _something_ , she very carefully doesn’t try to wriggle out of Yasha’s grip.

 _So much for moving slow_ , she thinks. When they get back from this little field trip, Beau is going to have _words_ with Caleb. He was fond of Yasha, right? He would be appropriately sympathetic.

He had _better_ be appropriately sympathetic.

“In any case,” Nott says. “There’s nothing in front of us. I _did_ see a little opening coming up, but I didn’t want to go outside without backup, so I just came back here.”

“Let’s go that way, then,” Yasha says, voice coming out flat and mechanical. Beau squeezes a hand over Yasha’s, and then loops back into her original position. Yasha’s arm tightens, just a little, before relaxing.

…

…

 _Sunlight_. Glorious, glorious sunlight.

Beau blinks into the clouds, chest light enough to just float away. They’ve somehow ended up on a small garden outcropping, plants spilling out over a jagged cliff that reaches down far longer than Beau can see. Nott says that there’s a thin blue line of water skirting the base, but when Beau looks down, all she can see is mist.

The space is large enough and solid enough for them to take a short rest, Beau propping herself up against the side of the mountain. Well, not a mountain – it’s as big as she’s ever seen something, but that doesn’t mean it’s as big as something can be. Caleb hadn’t seemed too impressed when they had gotten their first glance at it, through Jester had certainly looked excited.

The rock is cool against her sweaty skin. Beau looks down at herself, taking in the long trails of dust and bruises that pull at her ankles. With a cracking yawn, she lets her head fall back and her eyelids soak in the sunlight.

“You’re going to give yourself a headache,” Nott says.

Beau ignores her.

Something large momentarily blocks her access to the sun, and Beau blinks up in time to see Yasha move past her and then settle a good three feet away, boots kicking precariously over the side. Beau’s heart seizes uncomfortable, and she has to glance away to catch her breath. They are very far up. They are very far up, and maybe Yasha has wings, but Beau has never seen her use them. Not really.

And Yasha looks beautiful, here, silhouetted in sun and sweat.

“Thank you,” Beau says, when the silence between the three of them gets a little too dense. Nott is very pointedly on the other side of the plateau, nestled in the tall grass and playing with some vials of something…probably dangerous. Beau doesn’t really want to think about it here, with so much open space and the potential to get blown off the side of a cliff. The separation is probably for the best. Definitely for the best, now that Beau thinks about it – if Nott comes over to make _one more joke_ about –

Yasha glances to the side, light catching her mismatched eyes to silver and stone.

“Don’t worry about it,” the says. “I, well. I don’t mind.”

Beau breaks out a smile, sanding down the edges enough for Fjord to approve. “I don’t mind either,” she says. “Well, I do mind, because – you know, not being able to see – but I don’t mind having you, uh. Help me out. I appreciate it, actually! Very appreciative. Yes.”

 _How does this always happen to me_? Beau thinks.

Yasha stares at her blankly.

“I mean,” Beau skids along hastily. “I feel safer, with you leading me.”

Yasha’s eyes widen, and her cheeks turn the colour of rose quartz. Beau could stare into that face all day, and never get bored.

“I –”

“Alright, alright, pack it up!” Nott yells from across the plateau. “We’re burning daylight.”

“We’re exploring the literal _inside of a mountain_ ,” Beau says, whipping around to glare at the goblin-girl.

Nott’s smile is all teeth. “Well, that’s not my problem now, is it?”

…

…

This time around, they work themselves out a better system.

Beau doesn’t cling so desperately to Yasha’s arm, which means Yasha can manoeuvre them around the larger pitfalls without that added layer of difficulty. Of course, now that they’ve become more comfortable with each other, so Yasha now feels relaxed enough to just _lift Beau up and over_ any unseen pockmark, without much warning. From her breathing, it doesn’t even take much effort. Beau is being _very restrained_ in not asking Yasha to just carry her.

Of course, that comfortable familiarity all goes to shit when they’re attacked.

Laugher seeps from the walls, invisible. Yasha’s muscles tense as she readies to draw her sword, only to realise that Beau is slinging on for dear life to her sword-arm. Beau starts to loosen her grip, but Yasha grabs onto her wrist and keeps her in place.

“I can’t see anything,” Nott says, voice high with nerves.

“Neither can I,” Beau says, because stress turns her into more of a bitch than usual.

Something green flashes off to Beau’s side, the suddenness of colour amidst a distinct absence of it enough for Beau to whip her head around to follow it. It’s gone within the space of a heartbeat, leaving an afterimage of light for Beau to blink away.

The laughter echoes, pitchy and resonant as a glass flute. Beau’s ears hurt, and she smacks her free hand up to tray and cover the. Next to her, Yasha lets out a pained grunt.

“I think we should retreat,” Nott says. Something presses unexpectedly against Beau’s leg, and she starts to kick out before realising that Nott had just stumbled back from her position up-front.

“Seconded,” Beau wheezes, looking around fruitlessly. The noise is no help. It’s coming from everywhere simultaneously, drilling into her skull. Beau can’t even tell how large the tunnel is – for all she knows, it could have tapered up and out. It’s certainly large enough for Yasha to have no problems walking with a straight spine, through earlier in their journey they had been forced to duck a little.

As three, they take a step back.

The laughter begins to swell, bursting low and bleeding across the floor. Beau tries to take another step back, but she almost trips over something on the ground. Hissing out a curse, she grips around tighter for Yasha’s arm. _Useless_ , she thinks, muscles bunching together. Taking out her staff isn’t going to do any good – she’s as likely to hit her unseen friends as she is to hit her unseen enemy.

“On three,” Nott says, and then bolts.

“Oh _shit_ ,” Beau says, just in time for Yasha to drag her backwards. She tries to keep up, but pushing onward in complete darkness isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Yasha’s legs are long, and every step of hers is two of Beau’s. She’s dragging them both back.

“This isn’t working,” Yasha says.

“Wha –” Beau wheezes, and then she’s in the air and on Yasha’s shoulder.

 _What the fuck_ , she thinks.

In the distance behind them, green flashes of light begin to spin. The laughter reaches to a hideous crescendo.

But they’re already gone.

…

…

By some miracle, they get back to camp before the others.

Beau flops to the ground like a sack of potatoes (there’s a lot of her that feels like a sack of potatoes, at the moment) and keeps her eyes wide and open. There’s not much worth seeing, but Beau is going to take what she can get. _Everything_ she can get.

Nott is off in her own corner, once again messing around with her vials. Beau remembers her saying something about “acid”, once, but she doesn’t want to know. Plausible deniability, and all that.

Though considering _Beau_ is the one who always seems to end up in jail –

Yasha sits next to the fire, stoking it high enough that – if they hadn’t already cleared out the area of basically every bandit group, seriously, why did people think that attacking seven (and a half) people travelling this far out was a good idea? – would have drown out robbers like a moth to flame.

After a few moments of debate, Beau scrambles to her feet and walks over to crouch beside Yasha.

“Are you cold?” Beau says. Yasha twitches away, the slight widening of her eyes betraying her surprise. “Because, if you’re cold, we can –”

“I’m sorry,” Yasha says, looking back at the fire. The light washes out her snowy skin; if Beau looks close enough, she can see the spider-web of veins networking between the muscles of her face.

Beau blinks for a second, thrown off her stride. “For what? I didn’t. I mean, _I_ should be the one apologising, probably. We shouldn’t have kept going when I was a liability.”

“ _Yeah, Beau_ ,” Nott mutters in the distance. There’s a small burst of flames, and the sound of something _popping_.

“I’m ignoring you!” Beau yells, and then turns back to Yasha. “That was a bad call on my part.”

Yasha slowly shakes her head. “Well, I – grabbed you. Very quickly. I didn’t – didn’t ask for. Your, uh, permission, and.”

Beau ducks her head a little, so she can smile right up into Yasha’s bowed face. “You probably saved my life, you know. Without you there, I’d have been a sitting duck.”

“ _Yeah, Beau_ ,” Nott repeats, though this time she looks distinctly more singed. Beau looks around for something to throw.

Yasha opens her mouth, smile twitching at the corners of her lips, and it looks like she’s about to say something when –

“We’re _ba-ack_!” Jester sings, skipping into the middle of their campsite and throwing down a bag of – were those spider legs?

“We had a real blast,” Fjord says from behind her, face covered in grime and black goop. His eyes are flat and screaming. Beside him, Molly looks far too amused for his own good. “Literally.”

“It was _awesome_ ,” Jester says, waving her arms around. Kiri is next to her, stabbing at imaginary enemies. “First we saw some worm-thingys, but we managed to get past their nest and keep going until we saw some spiders – didn’t we, Kiri?”

“Some spiders,” Kiri says enthusiastically, knife flailing.

“There were a lot of spiders – like, a _lot_ – and no one could stab them properly –”

Caleb walks into camp and collapses face-first onto his bedroll. Nott gives a small cry of alarm and rushes over, but Caleb puts up a hand to forestall her worrying. “Let me die in peace, please,” he says, voice muffled.

“– and then Fjord figured out that we could make them stab _each other_ –”

“And how was your venture?” Fjord says, cutting Jester off. Jester gives him a distinctly put-out look, but seems to recognise that Fjord has Reached his Limit for today. “I hope that it was more fruitful than ours.”

“Oh, Caleb, it was _awful_ ,” Nott says, shaking Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb just groans pathetically into his bedroll. “They wouldn’t stop _flirting_.”

…

…

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a little worried this comes across as ablest, so like, to be clear – blind people can kick ass, but Beau isn’t used to not being able to see. She is also shamelessly taking advantage of the situation. 
> 
> (heavily inspired by Episode 81 of the last campaign, which I finished last night. Grog and Ker are too cute. I was then compelled by some unknown force of nature to write this. Two updates in one week? Shock, horror, awe. I need sleep).


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